New guy from VA 93 Z34 Lumina

[Counter]

Hey guys just picked up a 93 Z34 Lumina with only 78k miles on it. It needs a bit of TLC but runs pretty well otherwise got it to pass state inspection here no problem hoping emissions goes fine too. The car is for my girlfriend as her volvo's old engine blew up on us :/ Picked it up cheap too so thats cool. It has had two owners and I know the last owner a little bit and had the timing belt + all the goodies done at 52k miles. It does have a small oil leak that he says comes from the distributor something but told me I gotta take the head off to replace it? Maybe in a year or two I'll get to that when i change the timing belt etc on it.

Only have 1 not that great picture but I'll get more once it's bright out again.

 

P.S. I'm a neon srt4 owner and am used to working on lil 4 bangers so this'll be a fun new project for me. Plus I'm 21 years old and have a lot to learn so I'll be doing a lot of reading up!

Here's a picture of my neon hate if you want I love it

[Nas Escobar]

Welcome to the forum!

 

What part of Virginia are you located? I'm in Washington DC.

[virtuetovice]

Welcome to a fellow VA member! It's always nice to see someone as "suth'n" as we are, compared to all those Yankees up there LOL

 

To be honest I've been pretty dormant lately. Fat chance that the day I decide to pay a visit to my old pals here, I find a new VA member joining. Cool Lumina. The oil leak is more than likely coming from the oil pump drive seal. Of course, there is no distributor on this car. That seal is where a distributor WOULD have been, if I'm not mistaken. 3.4 right??

 

 

An emissions test? Where? I've never had to pass an emissions test in Chesterfield, Prince George, OR Norfolk.

[Psych0matt]

I don't mind the neons, my wife's on her second one, just too small for me. Welcome aboard!

[Nas Escobar]

 

 

An emissions test? Where? I've never had to pass an emissions test in Chesterfield, Prince George, OR Norfolk.

 

 

The "northern" part of the state that's close to DC. The 5 counties and 4 cities that are closest to DC/MD require it. My car's registered in the City of Alexandria so I have to test every 2 years.

[virtuetovice]

Interesting. How strict is the test?? Is it a close call for an old W?? All news to me, I've never had an "official" inspection. It's always just some guy glancing at it for 5 mins....

[Nas Escobar]

Interesting. How strict is the test?? Is it a close call for an old W?? All news to me, I've never had an "official" inspection. It's always just some guy glancing at it for 5 mins....

 

Anything built after 1996 gets checked by a computer. I want to say they just check to make sure there's no codes because the page they give you has "N/A" where on a car built 1995 and earlier they put the sniffer. That one is hard to pass, but as long as you have no vacuum leaks, bad o2 sensors or bad cats you're good. I did manage to pass my Camaro in Virginia with a rotting muffler. They just checked the computer. No problems at all.

 

DC has no inspection but their emissions test is a bit more strict. They would have failed me for the rotting muffler.

 

Here's how the page looks like.

 

[virtuetovice]

So OP's 93 would be exempt, then?

 

Still, the "emission test" doesn't seem overly harsh at all.

[Nas Escobar]

So OP's 93 would be exempt, then?

 

Still, the "emission test" doesn't seem overly harsh at all.

 

Nope, it's a 25 year test. He has to get a dyno test with a sniffer in his tailpipe. That one is annoying as hell. I prefer the computer test. The emission test is easy as pie for OBD2 cars, all they do is check to make sure the computer works and you have no codes. They don't even pull out the NO ppm nor HC ppm readouts from it.

 

Maryland is the one that wouldn't test him since the car is 21 years old. He has 2 more emission tests on that car before it's except due to age in the Commonwealth of Virginia but if he had Maryland plates, he would be except from inspection and emissions because he qualifies for "Historic" tags (known as antique tags in VA). Otherwise he has to test BUT the kicker is that in Maryland he has to test every 2 years despite age if he got standard issue plates but should he fail, he would have to spend $450 in repairs before he can apply for a waiver. In Virginia, it's $780 or some high number in that vicinity.

 

What I recommend to the op is that he drive his car 30 to 50 miles before having it tested and have fun with it... in other words the harder you drive the engine the more "warm and ready" it is for emissions. The NO ppm and HC ppm can vary based on the temperature of the engine and how well it was revved. If you take a cold car to get sniffed, it will fail. He should also check his muffler for leaks. That can cause the car to fail as well.

[virtuetovice]

Long story short, go for an Italian tune up.

[Nas Escobar]

Long story short, go for an Italian tune up.

 

 

Long story short, what some people in that area of Virginia are known to do is simply tell the DMV the car is garaged in any county past Stafford County. They tell the DMV the car is garaged in Spotsylvania or some other southern county and pay the car tax in that county.

 

That or tag in MD, it's a lot easier to get "things done" in MD than Northern VA. This is why if you ever come up here you'll see a lot of cars with MD tags but live in VA. Same goes in DC, I'm the oddball that kept the VA registration, they usually register in MD for the same reasons.

[rich_e777]

Nope, it's a 25 year test. He has to get a dyno test with a sniffer in his tailpipe. That one is annoying as hell. I prefer the computer test. The emission test is easy as pie for OBD2 cars, all they do is check to make sure the computer works and you have no codes. They don't even pull out the NO ppm nor HC ppm readouts from it.

 

Maryland is the one that wouldn't test him since the car is 21 years old. He has 2 more emission tests on that car before it's except due to age in the Commonwealth of Virginia but if he had Maryland plates, he would be except from inspection and emissions because he qualifies for "Historic" tags (known as antique tags in VA). Otherwise he has to test BUT the kicker is that in Maryland he has to test every 2 years despite age if he got standard issue plates but should he fail, he would have to spend $450 in repairs before he can apply for a waiver. In Virginia, it's $780 or some high number in that vicinity.

 

What I recommend to the op is that he drive his car 30 to 50 miles before having it tested and have fun with it... in other words the harder you drive the engine the more "warm and ready" it is for emissions. The NO ppm and HC ppm can vary based on the temperature of the engine and how well it was revved. If you take a cold car to get sniffed, it will fail. He should also check his muffler for leaks. That can cause the car to fail as well.

 

They Dyno the cars up there for inspection!? My car in TN all they do is look at mileage and sniff the exhaust. If you have antique plates you are exempt from emissions testing but you cannot legally DD a antique plate car. If you are worried about passing emissions and they do not require you to pop your hood, just unplug the pcv system.

[Counter]

Thanks for all the welcomes guys! I'm in northern VA fairfax area.

To Virtue yeah it's the 3.4l and I was wondering about that he kept saying distributor seal and I haven't done a good enough run down on it yet haha. As everyone is saying I do have an emissions testing and have 4 more years of it/ 2 more tests on this car and plan on driving a good few miles before the test and runnin her warm before we get it to emissions. It might have a small exhaust leak but couldnt locate it in the few minutes I had it on a lift. I planned on driving it awhile anyways had a new battery put in and don't want any problems going through emissions but we'll see.

The car is literally all stock so the only reason I wouldn't pass is from that possible exhaust leak, all rusty and fun stuff worst case I just throw a new full exhaust on it probably stock since it's my girls ride..... haha but again thanks for all the welcomes!

 

EDIT: the Bose GM-10 amp blew so the radio isn't working and was wondering if anyones got an idea where I could get another. Ebay's got one for 800 and ewrench has what looks like a broken one for 75 lol... Is my best bet a junkyard?

Edited July 25, 2014 by Counter

[virtuetovice]

800 bones for an old ass stock amp?? A junkyard will likely have one that works somewhere. If youre gonna do an exhaust this motor sounds good with aftermarket stuff. I think 94 olds vert has a set of flowmasters on his 3.4 and it sounds awesome. Might be your girls ride but damn a good girl likes a good sounding car

Edited July 25, 2014 by virtuetovice

[amistydj]

Welcome to a fellow VA member! It's always nice to see someone as "suth'n" as we are, compared to all those Yankees up there LOL

 

To be honest I've been pretty dormant lately. Fat chance that the day I decide to pay a visit to my old pals here, I find a new VA member joining. Cool Lumina. The oil leak is more than likely coming from the oil pump drive seal. Of course, there is no distributor on this car. That seal is where a distributor WOULD have been, if I'm not mistaken. 3.4 right??

 

 

An emissions test? Where? I've never had to pass an emissions test in Chesterfield, Prince George, OR Norfolk.

LOL Im a good ol virginian too but I live up north now, VA is where all the fun stuff is though

[Counter]

Yeah I tried LKQ cuz they deliver to my work and no luck :/ I want to put an exhaust on her car but she's telling me not to.... its the stock one and rusting out so i'm hoping it passes emissions, and if it doesn't maybe then I can convince her hahahaha

 

Finished washing and waxing her car today. Looks sooo much better with just a lil cleaning up. Still a long ways to go but it's a start haha. z34 is my girl's, formula firebirds my bro's and the neons mine all cleaned up today.

 

Edited July 26, 2014 by Counter

[Nas Escobar]

Yeah I tried LKQ cuz they deliver to my work and no luck :/ I want to put an exhaust on her car but she's telling me not to.... its the stock one and rusting out so i'm hoping it passes emissions, and if it doesn't maybe then I can convince her hahahaha

 

How bad is the rust? Is it split? You could just have it rewelded to pass emissions. Find someone with a welder that will do it for a 12 pack.

 

You're gonna have to go yard hunting, and it's gonna be a bitch because these cars are hard to find. I would suggest going to Crazy Ray's out in Baltimore. They are known to have 1G cars.

 

They Dyno the cars up there for inspection!? My car in TN all they do is look at mileage and sniff the exhaust. If you have antique plates you are exempt from emissions testing but you cannot legally DD a antique plate car. If you are worried about passing emissions and they do not require you to pop your hood, just unplug the pcv system.

 

They only dyno for cars built before 1996. They check NO ppm and HC ppm at 15mph and 25mph. Pretty stupid if you ask me. Virginia is strict about the antique tag, but Maryland is having a hard time enforcing their Historic tag rule. I've seen that plate on Camrys and Sentras... since when are they considered historic cars?

[Counter]

Rust isn't too bad just getting to the point where it MIGHT leak... When I had it on a lift and the cars warm and has been running sounds fine but when she first fires up sounds like there could be a leak. And i'll check out crazy ray's on my day's off hoping to find an amp or i'm gonna have to figure out how to rig something up ... not too good with electricals yet but I guess i gotta learn someday right?

[Nas Escobar]

Rust isn't too bad just getting to the point where it MIGHT leak... When I had it on a lift and the cars warm and has been running sounds fine but when she first fires up sounds like there could be a leak. And i'll check out crazy ray's on my day's off hoping to find an amp or i'm gonna have to figure out how to rig something up ... not too good with electricals yet but I guess i gotta learn someday right?

 

Well, here's my question... are you trying to keep this car stock or would you want an entry level sound system, which would just be a head unit/radio and some aftermarket speakers?

 

Because when all is said and done, you can easily get a $100 radio if you want at the bare minimum and just go along as stuff breaks down. I always recommend swapping speakers because they're more than likely cracked or blown. I blew my stock speakers in 2 months of owning the car. The front 2 were bad when I bought it but I messed up the back 2.

[Counter]

Trying to keep the car more stock in performance mods but wont mind putting some speakers and a system in. It has an aftermarket head unit in it already I just wanna get the thing workin for her though. I'd like to know that the radio turns on and works before I drop some money on speakers. The bose amp in the back just blew the day before I bought it and blew a fuse so gotta check all that. The amp has a melted spot in the back so I'm assuming that's what the damage is and that's why it doesnt work.

[Nas Escobar]

So the radio isn't getting power at all?

 

Worse comes to worst, you can run a fused wire to the battery and you should be able to power the radio that way. Come to think of it, if you can take the radio out, then it makes it easier, all you have to do is get alligator clips or run a positive and negative wire from the battery and attach those wires/clips to the negative on the radio (black) and positive on the radio (yellow). From there it's all relative to deleting the amp. It's not that hard to do, I've done it numerous times.

 

Since you're not that far from DC, I can help you out if you want. I'm thinking at the worst, you'll have to run new wiring from the speakers to the radio. If that's the case, then you're gonna have to ask yourself if you wanna power them with the radio or if you wanna wire in an aftermarket 4 channel amp.

[Counter]

Yeah it doesn't turn on at all but the previous owner said the amp blew out on him/ possible fuse so yeah. And once I find out if the radio and stuff turns on maybe I'll hit you up for the help haha bring that 12 pack. maybe in a couple weeks once I get the rest of the maintenance up to date as the car was sitting for 6 months.

[Nas Escobar]

Yeah it doesn't turn on at all but the previous owner said the amp blew out on him/ possible fuse so yeah. And once I find out if the radio and stuff turns on maybe I'll hit you up for the help haha bring that 12 pack. maybe in a couple weeks once I get the rest of the maintenance up to date as the car was sitting for 6 months.

 

Do this... Disconnect the amp and replace the fuse. The radio should turn on but you won't get sound. From there its your call how you want to fix that.

 

What else do you have to fix on the car?

[Counter]

Gonna do all the fluids, vents don't have a/c so I'm thinking vacuum leak? Floor gets a/c though. Got at least brakes in the rear have to check the front, and fuel filter. And make sure she gets through emissions. After all that I'll worry about getting audio